acr^id.t:. 105 



hind-marginal clouding is of a fainter blackish. Under- 

 side. — Closely resembles that of t > but universally i^aler. 

 Fore-wing : pale-yellowish colouring of apical portion ex- 

 tending along costa, and sometimes forming a narrow edging 

 as far as anal angle ; the ochreous inter-nervular rays fainter 

 than in $ . Hind-iving : hind-marginal, inter-nervular, red- 

 dish-ochreous markings ill-defined, the three next costa 

 obsolete ; blackish streak wider than in $ . 



Marshes, and damp, low-lying fields ; rarely in gardens. 



October (e)— November (m) ; and January (m) — February (e). 



Though local in its haunts, this pretty little Acraa is very abundant 

 •where it occurs. Its flight is slow and gentle, with a whirring action of 

 the wings, and a tendency to assume a circular direction. It keeps always 

 near the ground, generally delighting in the dense reed-beds fringing river- 

 banks, where it very frequently settles on the flowers of marsh-loving 

 plants. The abundance of this Butterfly in the marshes bordering the 

 little river Bitouw at Plettenberg Bay, in the beginning of February, 1859, 

 was really wonderful to witness. I know of no Rliopalocerous Insect more 

 easily captured than this species. There seems to be, as noted above, two 

 distinct broods of this Butterfly in the year ; a marked interval of about 

 two months occuring during my stay at the Knysna, when I did not notice 

 a single individual of this species. The ? A. Raldra is considerably 

 larger than the $ . M. Boisduval writes, in the "Faune Entomologique 

 de Madagascar, &c.," that M. Goudot stated his having taken this species 

 at Tamatave, on the East coast of Madagascar, but that as he (M. B.) 

 possessed the insect from the "pays des Iloltentots," he fears that M. 

 Goudot must have obtained it at the Cape of Good Hope, and confounded 

 it with his Madagascar captures. I do not see any necessity for this doubt, 

 so many species of Butterflies being common to both Madagascar and the 

 main land of Africa. 



Knysna. Plettenberg Bay. — Coll. mihi. 

 South Africa. Port Natal. — Coll. Brit. Mus. 

 Butterworth, KafFraria (J. H. Bowker). — Coll. S. A. Mus. 

 " Madagascar ?" — Boisd. 



66. Acraea punctatissima. 



Acraea punctatissima, Boisd., Faune Ent. de Mad., \A. 6, 



[f. 2. 



Acraea Stictica, Boisd., ylpp. Voy. de Deleg., p. 590. 



Expands 1 in. G lin. — 1 in. 8 lin. 



Pale yeUow-ochreous, semi- transparent ; thickly spotted 

 with black. Fore-iving : base slightly blackish ; costa nar- 

 rowly edged with blackish ; apex rather broadly clouded 

 with the same ; which is continued along hind-margin in a 

 narrovv border, forming rounded, spot-like projections be- 

 tween nervules, indenting the ground-colour ; three small 

 spots on ccsta before the middle, and one just beyond the 



